Kent Kester is an accomplished physician and leader in the field of vaccine research and development, currently serving as the Executive Director for Vaccine Research and Development at the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) since August 2024. With extensive experience at the University of Maryland Medical Center as an attending physician in Infectious Diseases since 1997, Kester has previously held significant roles including Vice President of Translational Medicine at IAVI, where responsibilities included accelerating vaccine and biologic development for global public health. Prior positions at Sanofi Pasteur involved leadership in biomarker research and clinical translational strategies. Kester's military service as a U.S. Army Officer encompassed roles such as Commander at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research and attending physician at various military medical centers. Kester holds an MD from Thomas Jefferson University and a BS in Biology from Bucknell University.
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CEPI (Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations)
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CEPI is an innovative partnership between public, private, philanthropic, and civil organisations, launched at Davos in 2017, to develop vaccines against future epidemics. Prior to COVID-19, CEPI’s work focused on developing vaccines against the Ebola Virus Disease, Lassa virus, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus, Nipah virus, Rift Valley Fever virus and Chikungunya virus. It has over 20 vaccine candidates against these pathogens in development. CEPI has also invested in new platform technologies for rapid vaccine development against unknown pathogens (Disease X). During the COVID-19 pandemic, CEPI initiated multiple programmes to develop vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 and its variants with a focus on speed, scale, and access. These programmes leverage the rapid response platforms developed by CEPI’s partners prior to the emergence of COVID-19, as well as new collaborations. The aim is to advance clinical development of a diverse portfolio of safe and effective COVID-19 candidates and to enable fair allocation of these vaccines worldwide through COVAX. CEPI’s 5-year plan lays out a $3.5 billion roadmap to compress vaccine development timelines to 100 days, develop a broadly protective vaccine against COVID-19 and other Betacoronaviruses, and create a “library” of vaccine candidates for use against known and unknown pathogens. The plan is available at www.endpandemics.cepi.net